


Deep End

by IllustraveratWrites



Category: No Fandom
Genre: Beta Read, Body Horror, Complete, Cryptids, Drama & Romance, Friends to Lovers, Horror, M/M, Monsters, Original Fiction, Roman Catholicism, Romance, Short One Shot, Short Story, Swimming Pools, horror romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-29
Updated: 2020-03-29
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:41:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23383927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IllustraveratWrites/pseuds/IllustraveratWrites
Summary: “There’s a monster in the deep end of the motel swimming pool.”...After several trails and tribulations, Lorenzo and Jamie have a confrontation by the swimming pool.Neither are prepared for what they have in store for one another, but the uncomfortable doesn’t scare them away anymore.
Relationships: Original Male Character/Original Male Character
Kudos: 7





	Deep End

_There’s a monster in the deep end of the motel swimming pool._

It’s 3am. Lorenzo sits on the third step of the pool’s ladder. His body is caught in a paradox, its upper half caught in the miasma of a summer night while everything below his waist is weightless in the water. He still has his clothes on. They’re soaked and cling to all of Lorenzo in a needy fashion. The weight is a heavy burden but discarding it would mean that Lorenzo would have to look at _it,_ acknowledge _it_. It’s a thought that makes him want to scratch at _it_ , picking at the flesh around the area until there’s blood under Lorenzo’s nails. Blood that doesn’t feel like his own from a body that’s never felt like his own.

Lorenzo’s ears pick up the sound of wet steps coming toward him. It’s Jamie. Lorenzo doesn’t need to see his face to know it's him. After spending a lifetime being his best friend, he can tell when Jamie’s coming around the corner from the mile away. Jamie has a presence that deserves his attention, his care, his body- his everything. Jamie never has to ask and Lorenzo never wants anything in return much to Jamie’s displeasure.

His head turns towards the source of the sound but his eyes fixate on the ground, on the pale brown feet coming to a stop with the long black hair trailing behind them. He sees Jamie’s _it_. Thin neat incisions starting at his toes and climbing up to the rest of him as if Jamie took a hold of a scalpel and sliced himself free with as much time as he pleased. Jamie is an inch away from falling apart at the seams. The choker on his next is the last string holding him back.

“Hey,” Jamie snaps his fingers. “My eyes are up here.”

“Right. Sorry.” Lorenzo sighs and musters everything he can to meet Jamie’s eyes. Jamie looks back down at Lorenzo, the reflection of the pool’s sapphire light in his glasses. He stands there for a moment with his arms crossed and jaw clenched. His expression is sour as bites back his tongue and holds back the venom built up their last argument.

There’s deafening silence before Lorenzo takes initiative and scratches his throat, “Look. I’m sorry. It’s my fault. I’m sorry, so sorry. I-” He wants to apologize but he doesn’t even know where to start or when to end or how to do good by it. Should he start with the fact that he punched Jamie’s ex boyfriend's teeth in? Maybe reflect how he dragged him here and the fact that his truck broke down in the middle of the desert with nothing but a shitty motel for miles? All of this and-

“Don’t apologize to me. You already said sorry once. You don’t have to say it again.”

“But I do.” Lorenzo insists.“All of this is on me.”

“No,” Jamie stops Lorenzo before he can say anything else. “No! It’s not. Just- Just fucking shut up for a second.” He sighs and approaches the edge of the pool, sitting as close as he can to Lorenzo. His feet dangle in the water. They barely look human anymore, now in tints of aquamarine as strips of his skin dangling as they threaten to break away and float to the top. Lorenzo can’t understand how Jamie is so comfortable with it, how he can appear to love _it_. 

“It’s not your fault. Well at least not entirely.”

“Jamie…”

“Seriously, you make me sound like a saint,” He scoffs in disbelief and shakes his head. “It’s unrealistic and just like you, but all of this isn’t your fault. At least not entirely…” When Jamie’s eyes focus on the other, the pool illuminates the crescents under them and the small smile on his face. It tugs at something in Lorenzo and makes him want to tear at _it_. “I should have just kept my relationship trouble to myself. You didn’t need to get pulled into my bullshit last week and then it got you into shit and now we’re just in deep shit together and-”

Lorenzo knows exactly what he’s talking about and isn’t having it. “What? Even if you didn’t tell me, I would have found out about it and decked his face anyway.”

“What?” Jamie’s smile is gone in a fraction of a second. “Are you kidding me? You shouldn’t get expelled over me-“

“I was going to get suspended anyway.” Lorenzo’s grades were going downhill fast and he wasn’t making the cut. Their college would have gotten him on academics if not that. “Jamie. He keyed your car and popped your tires. Yeah, he’s the hospitality professor, but that wasn’t very fucking hospitable and he can’t get away with that!”

“He wasn’t!” Jamie’s voice escalates much like it did the last time they argued. “We were just talking! Sure, it wasn’t great but it was fine. But, oh, touching me _once_ is apparently too much!”

“ _ Touching? _ He grabbed you!” Lorenzo begins to boil, leaning toward Jamie as a hot, vile bile rapidly builds up in his throat. It’s the same bile he felt last week. The same bile that builds whenever he sees Jamie with someone else. “He was too rough! He was going to do something to you!” 

That guy grabbed Jamie’s wrist tight with a loud smack when he tried to walk away. That was all it took. From there it was just clockwork. Then the burning bile in his throat started. His jaw locks up,his teeth grind. Then he can’t hear anything but the ringing in his ears and his body moves on autopilot and his hand is clenched into a fist and the next thing he knows that fist is the next thing the professor’s kissing and there’s blood everywhere yet  _ Lorenzo can’t bring himself to give a shit and all he wants to do is dig his thumbs into his goddamn eye sockets and rip that fucker’s face apart-  _

“So? I could have handled it!” Jamie bites back offended. He’s sick and tired of being handled like fine china.Yes, his last relationship wasn’t soft and tender. Yes, it was becoming tight and suffocating, but Jamie could of cut ties just fine without Lorenzo’s expense! 

“Let him do something!”

“I couldn’t!” Lorenzo has his hands in his dark brown locks as he tries to look away from Jamie. The aggression on his face is clear as the stars in the sky above yet the biting of his lip tells Jamie something else. Lorenzo’s holding back. No. Jamie doesn’t want that. He wants it all. No more holding back.

“What do you mean you couldn’t? Lorenzo, I can take care of myself!”

“I know, I know.”

“Uh-huh. Like this isn’t the fucking first time-” 

“I know, I know!”

“Oh! Really! Do you actually?”

It’s a cycle that starts every time Jamie finds someone new. Someone new comes into his life and Lorenzo grows distant. Things grow sour, as they always do, and as some ending climax Lorenzo fucking goes ham on them just before they walk out the door. Afterwards, Lorenzo tries to act like nothing happened and drags him to a big trip like this! Jamie wouldn’t mind as much if it didn’t come at the cost of his reputation. 

Openly commiting sodomy in a catholic campus is already enough to raise eyebrows and invite ridicule. Sleeping with a teacher in said catholic campus is enough to get you outcasted. Getting said teacher decked in the face by an another student already facing suspension is the equivalent of committing social suicide. He knows what they think of him, what they say about him. Whore. Slut. A word that rhymes with bag and other things that would make a priest blush. Honestly, Jamie doesn’t really care for it. Jamie’s already aware that he isn’t a saint and he’s perfectly fine with that. Let them see the virgules separating skin, the cracks on the glass ceiling sunlight peaks through. Let them sit and speculate what is underneath when they can never come close to the true beauty beyond their comprehension. Let them stay oblivious, ignorant, asleep in their cusp cocoons. It’s not his job to fix them.

It’s not himself Jamie is worried about. It’s Lorenzo. Lorenzo is a disciple with bloody knuckles. No sex. No drugs. Just occasional bloodsport. Goes to church every Sunday with a good portion of his salary for the offertory and a stress toy for the confession booth. There aren’t any simple words they can find to mock him in english, but shun is a universal insult. Jamie’s the only person left in his life. Family failed to pick up the phone. Friends don’t dare come at a five feet radius. His respective virgule is newly born and lays on the dark tan skin of his throat like a brand. Lorenzo fails to confess, but Jamie doesn’t need words to understand his pain. 

Jamie fell from heaven, a graceful fall that he can still land on his two feet and walk away from. In comparison, Lorenzo was banished from Eden. Fast, sudden, and humiliating. Jamie knows it's too much and he wants to help, but that’s difficult when Lorenzo believes he doesn’t deserve it. 

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Lorenzo keeps insisting and insisting, but Jamie won’t have it anymore.

“Stop apologizing and actually fucking talk to me!” Jamie is out of options. His hand reaches out and his fingers latch onto the hem of his shirt like a viper, quickly pulling him in chest to chest as the pool water is disturbed by their movement. Jamie can hear his breath hitch. He can see the surprise in Lorenzo’s eyes, large and wide and vulnerable.They tell him to keep pushing. “Just talk to me! C’mon! Say something! Lorenzo!”

Jamie has to say no more. He’s suddenly greeted with Lorenzo’s hands cupped around his face and his lips on his...His lips on his.Wait, his lips on his? It’s Jamie’s turn to be surprised, eyes wide and staring at Lorenzo who’s eyelids are shut tight as if he himself doesn’t entirely have a grasp of what he’s doing. In his shock, Jamie lets go of his shirt and his mouth opens ajar. That’s enough to scare Lorenzo away, immediately leaning back and leaving Jamie frozen in the midst of his confusion.

“...I thought you were straight.”

“  _ I know _ .” Lorenzo takes a deep breath. “I-I’ve never actually liked any of the past guys you’ve dated.”

“Yeah, no shit.”

“And I thought that it was just me being an asshole-I mean, yeah I was being an asshole, don’t get me wrong! I thought it was like the homophobic kind of asshole? But I’ve never hated you for being gay so that couldn’t it.” Lorenzo’s shaking as he tries to find the right words. “After...After I got suspended, I-I jus-just had some time to really dwell on it along with everything fucking else. Then I considered us, our relationship. I wasn’t being homophobic, just...jealous.”

“Jealous?”

“Jealous. Every time I watched you with some other guy, it's like that guy pressed all of the wrong buttons in me. I-I just wanna throw up and kick the shit out of him. More importantly, Jamie, I missed you. I’d go anywhere and just imagine how much better it would be if you were there. My classes, my work, my church, my bed- Everywhere. I realized that I want you all the time, Jamie. And then  _ it _ showed up and we got stuck out here and I don’t know what the fuck to do or make of it all of it and its just-“ Lorenzo begins picking at the virgule on his neck, sharp nails digging into flesh and stretches it wide. Jamie catches a glimpse of a second skin that sparkles as a nacre in the depths of a cave. It’s shine reflects in his glasses, his eyes, and in that brief moment he has some clue of how to free the stone trapped in the heavy cage of flesh.

“Lorenzo…” Jamie calls out, but his words don’t quite reach him. “Lorenzo.” He tries again but he just keeps going. There’s no stopping him now. “Lorenzo.” Jamie calls to him one last time before grabbing his hand and bringing it to his neck, slipping his fingers under the thin layer of cloth and into one of the crevices of his skin. Lorenzo shuts his mouth the second his senses register the flow of blood.  _ “Look. Feel.” _

He stops and brings his attention back to Jamie. As always, Lorenzo is cautious with every small movement, thumb lifting the choker out of his way as his middle and index finger seperate the two light folds of muscle and skin ever so gently. His breath hitches as his eyes slowly catch a glimpse of what’s behind his body’s curtains. Ebony scales that shine azure when it catches the pool’s neon lighting. The scales stand alone, the body and blood surrounding it a mere hollow husk barely containing a marvel that feels no shame. They feel smooth, pristine and he can feel his body’s steady cardiac rhythm when his fingers linger over them. Lorenzo can’t take his eyes off of him.

“Pretty right?” 

“Y-yes.”

That’s all Lorenzo can muster in awe and Jamie can’t help but laugh. Jamie smiles and tilts his head to expose more of it. His hand leaves Lorenzo’s before joining the dual appendix effort of opening himself, becoming stained red as they split open his throat and chest and reveal more of himself beyond the flimsy muscle and bone. The scales continue to run down, twisting and flowing accordingly down his sternum. Lorenzo now understands how Jamie can love this. It’s strange, it’s beautiful, it’s  _ Jamie _ . More Jamie than he’s ever felt before. 

“Do you like _it_?”

“Yes!”

“...Do you like me?” What a stupid question.

“I love you!” There’s no hesitation to his confession. Lorenzo slides his entire hand inside, palm against his chest and feeling more of his heart beat, making his own soar. He can feel the inviting warmth beyond his cusp and in his second skin. He wants to see all of Jamie, to feel all of Jamie. To kiss the skin that crawls from him and adore everything underneath. Lorenzo finds himself pulling Jamie closer who in turn laughs again and wraps an arm around his neck. His other hand lays on his throat, smudging red but Lorenzo can care less. A part of him wants to pry open  _ it _ and discard himself as well. “Y-You can..” He looks away from Jamie’s insides and into his eyes beyond the thick slabs of glass. They’re comforting and such comfort makes him swallow hard. “You can touch it too if you want. I-It’s not as pretty, but-“

“You shouldn’t sell yourself short like that. You haven’t even seen it yet, have you?” Lorenzo shakes his head in response whilst Jamie’s hand occupies itself with  _ it.  _ He shivers when he feels Jamie’s hand inside  _ it _ and behind the husk. Lorenzo feels his fingers wrap around him and it feels good.  _ God, it feels good. _ The arm around Lorenzo’s neck unfolds and Jamie holds Lorenzo’s chin, a thumb over his bottom lip. It’s intimite, but it’s not enough. Jamie doesn’t have enough hands to hold and explore every inch of Lorenzo to his satifiscarion. Not in this form at least. “You’re still you. Even more you.” Even more of him to love and conquer.

Jamie leans in for a kiss and Lorenzo meets him halfway, breaking apart to laugh as Lorenzo pulls him into the swimming pool. They both fall into the water with a thunderous collision, their world becoming a unison of cerulean and chlorine in a matter of seconds. The point of no return. As either of them would want to go back. 

Lorenzo doesn’t waste anymore time, fingers tearing off the choker on Jamie’s neck and letting it float to the top as they continue to sink. Like a flower in bloom, Jamie unravels. He smiles in ecstasy and his eyes roll to the back of its socket as his head simply detaches itself, ribbons of dark purple spewing and mixing with cyan as it rises with what was once his long hair following behind him like a jellyfish swimming to shore. A new mouth opens and grins as the rest of what once was sheds away. He has a presence that demands all of Lorenzo’s attention as a ginormous entity with countless appendages and tentacles that cover the entirety of the pool’s tiles, lying at the bottom like a void pulling Lorenzo in. Nothing else.  _ Just Jamie. _

Jamie’s many arms reach out to the other and his many hands help Lorenzo in discarding his clothes and himself. Lorenzo isn’t as easy to open. Jamie’s many fingers bleed against Lorenzo’s sharp ridges as they both pry what once wide with enough for him to swim free. Jamie is patient, letting Lorenzo as much time as he desires to bid farewell to once was and greet each and every new inch of himself. Lorenzo is a pearl reflecting and shimmering against the pools lights. He has blinding suns for pupils, countless glowing ivory beads for eyes staring at Jamie, lost in awe and enlightenment . He is a heavenly star in Jamie’s void.  _ Just Lorenzo. _

Lorenzo and Jamie lock in embrace. Lorenzo radiates a boiling heat which combats the natural chill of the swimming pool and he shines brighter that once fixed the pool’s walls before Jamie’s form engulfed them. It’s nice, it’s loving, _it’s perfect_. Neither of them knows how long this moment will last, how long they’ll have until they must crawl back into those bodies they hate so much. How much time they have before the hotel manager discovers their existence or whether or not she’d be bothered to do something about them. It’s not like there’s anyone or anything worthwhile to come back to. That is not a problem for them. All they need is each other. To deny them this feeling, this freedom after so much suffering will be such a futile effort.

So much more can be considered, but all thought is pushed aside like the remnants of who they once were float in the water and rise to the top. This moment is all that matters now as their limbs tangle and their heart beats become one. 

There is no more room for doubt. 

There is only room for them and what they share.

_ There is a monster in the deep end of the swimming pool. _

**Author's Note:**

> If you follow my Instagram then you already know this, but this story is also going to be adapted into a Webtoon as my Heart entry for this year’s contest. The webtoon will be written and drawn by yours truly, spanning 5 episodes and going more in depth of Lorenzo and Jamie’s relationship as well as the events which led up to their confrontation.
> 
> If you’d like to follow its development, please follow me on Instagram and Twitter: _Illustraverat_!
> 
> More to come!


End file.
